"Why have you come here?" Ye Duanhai hesitated, but he still could not hold back his doubts in the end.
"To help her cultivate!"
Li Qingshan pointed at the collapsed mountain. Little Ann bathed in the moonlight, currently cultivating with her eyes closed, "digesting" the Thousand Tendrils King and the demonfolk. Beneath her inhumanly beautiful face would appear a vicious skeleton from time to time, but it was only a fleeting glance. Even with Ye Duanhai's cultivation, he was unable to see it clearly. However, he was a hundred percent certain that it was a powerful demonic art, and the white bone sword was definitely not used to protect the buddhist dharma.
"I see. And I had thought you also had the heart to uphold justice and purge demons?"
Ye Duanhai said in a self-deprecating manner. Hoping that two existences that had transcended the boundaries of humans would have thoughts like that was a little presumptuous. However, the reason why he asked this was because he felt a sense of worry, or even a hint of fear.
The Soaring Locust King had already proven in the Green province just what kind of destruction a great daemon could cause once they decided to wreak havoc. Once the two of them completely matured, they would probably be even more terrifying than ten Soaring Locust Kings. By then, with just a single thought, they could influence the entire World of the Nine Provinces.
"There were in the past, but as for now, there's not much left." Li Qingshan shook his head with a smile. Who hadn't dreamed of being a chivalrous hero? They wanted to use their swords to uphold justice in the world. However, as they grew stronger and stronger and stood taller and taller, they instead felt like they could only control themselves.
"Let me treat you to a drink!"
Li Qingshan was rather surprised. Originally, he thought Ye Duanhai would bid farewell in silence, so he smiled. "Alright. Now that you mention it, I've realised it's already been over a decade since I've had a drink."
The two of them sat down on the lush crown of a large tree and took out two jars of alcohol to drink. They conversed slightly.
An hour later, Little Ann stopped cultivating and returned to Li Qingshan's side. Ye Duanhai had already bid farewell, shooting off as a streak of light.
The hot, moist night wind of the south blew past the crown of the trees. The trees swayed and rustled.
"What did he say?" Little Ann asked.
"Nothing much. Just a few words of advice. He's probably afraid I'll fall into the wrong path."
"Is it useful?"
"You know, I've never liked to use my brain, and I can't think of complicated things like good and evil. I only know that I'll mess with whoever wants to mess with me, and I'll mess with whoever I don't like. In short, there's nothing wrong with becoming stronger. How's that? Simple enough, right?"
Li Qingshan had once struggled with the dual identity of a human and a demon. In the end, he understood that standing on his own side was always the right thing to do. He simply blurred out the various identities and did what he wanted to do.
"Yes." Little Ann smiled faintly. Her ethereal eyes rippled with the moonlight, revealing her trust from the bottom of her heart. Therefore, she did not need to worry about good and evil, Buddha and the devil. She only needed to accompany him on a very simple path.
"Let's go to the next Demon Den."
"Qingshan, if this continues, I might be one step ahead of you!" Little Ann was confident that the accumulation of her Dao Heart was already sufficient. All she lacked was resources. As long as she continued to devour and absorb, she would soon be able to cross that threshold and transcend the third Heavenly Tribulation.
"That would be for the best. Though, I won't fall too far behind either." Li Qingshan knew he was currently fatigued after over a decade of valiant progress. Killing demonfolk could be regarded as a form of relaxation. Little Ann, on the other hand, had built up her foundation, so there was a great opportunity for her to break through.
However, no matter who broke through first, their strength would increase qualitatively. The wonders of the Path of White Bone and Great Beauty were probably no weaker than the Nine Transformations of the Demonic and Divine. Let alone everything else, just the Skull Prayer Beads alone would allow her to continue refining them after undergoing the third Heavenly Tribulation. Every single Skeleton Demon would possess the strength of a Demon King. Even if they were extremely weak Demon Kings, they did not have so many tricks up their sleeves. However, when several dozen of them swarmed together and worked together, just who in the world could stop them?
"Who's there!?" Li Qingshan suddenly frowned and raised his head to bellow. An invisible wind swept out, and a depression appeared in the sea of trees, expanding in all directions. A mountain of clouds in the sky collapsed and dispersed, and a familiar figure appeared.
"Divine Nun of the South Sea!" "Master."
The Divine Nun of the South Sea brought her palms together. She was still dressed in the same shabby, black robes as before. A sliver of sorrow and fury appeared on her plain and stern face as she stared straight at Little Ann.
"Divine nun, why have you come? Why aren't you lending a hand when you're watching us purge the demons?" Li Qingshan found the situation rather troublesome, so he chose to strike first.
"One Will, just what cultivation method do you practise? Who are you exactly? "The Divine Nun of the South Sea did not answer his question, asking sternly instead.
Little Ann wanted to say something. An apologetic and sorrowful expression appeared on his face, but as soon as he met the Divine Nun of the South Sea's gaze, his expression melted like snow, recovering his expressionless appearance. He knew any explanation would be useless.
At most, Ye Duanhai felt that this was an evil or demonic cultivation method, but as one of the few great buddhist cultivators in the world, it was impossible for the Divine Nun of the South Sea to not sense the disobedience and blasphemy towards the buddhist dharma. It was probably even more despicable than demonfolk who could not distinguish right from wrong. Demonfolk were only enemies, but she was a traitor of buddhism, just like the White Bone Bodhisattva.
"Nice! You've hidden yourself so well. We've been together for so many years, yet I actually failed to see through your true face, and I even wanted to take you in as my successor! "
The Divine Nun of the South Sea laughed from extreme anger, feeling even more sorrowful. She had not come here by chance. She had specially searched for Little Ann. Although she had been busy suppressing the demon plague in the past two years, she still cared very much about this disciple of hers. She would go to Savage mountain to look for him whenever she had the time. Although she was a step too late, she still managed to find him through the decree she had left on Little Ann.
It was a prayer bead similar to the one the Unraging monk had given to Li Qingshan. Not only could it call for reinforcements, but it could also protect his life. It could unleash the "Precept of the Four Parts" equivalent to her full strength. Even if she encountered a third heavenly tribulation opponent, she could block it for a while, allowing her to rush over and save him.
Little Ann wanted to learn the buddhist dharma from the Divine Nun of the South Sea, so she obviously could not accept it or remove it as she pleased. However, she never expected her to come at a time like this. After all, no matter how meticulous she was, it was impossible for her to calculate everything, let alone the fact that she was a great cultivator.
"Please calm down, abbess. Little Ann didn't do it on purpose either …"
Li Qingshan shrugged. It was impossible for any secret to remain hidden forever, let alone his own strength. His identity as a daemon was still a taboo to him many years ago, but now, it had already leaked everywhere. A lot of people knew about it. Little Ann's avatar of white bone beneath her great beauty was no different.
However, he did not find this to be a big deal. After all, Little Ann had not used mortals for cultivation. Just Now, the battle had truly purged demons and defended the righteous path. However, he discovered very soon that he had still underestimated people of religion.
"Shut up! Li Qingshan, so many years have passed. Do you really think I know nothing? The Green province isn't the Mist province, and the Chan Monastery of Deva-Nāga doesn't want daemons either. Even the Golden Cicada Spirit King was expelled in the past, let alone you! "
"Thank you for keeping my secret, divine nun!" Li Qingshan clasped his hands.
"If it weren't for … for … sigh!"
The Divine Nun of the South Sea let out a sorrowful sigh. Originally, she wanted to say it was for the sake of Little Ann, but she had touched her sore spot again. She had wandered the South sea for many years. If it were not for Little Ann, who was considering how to accept her as a disciple, she would never have paid attention to the Chan Monastery of Deva-Nāga fifty thousand kilometers away.
Although she had sensed that there was something off about Li Qingshan's identity, she did not find the bloodline of daemons particularly unacceptable as she came from the Mist province. After all, even the bodhisattvas of the west had daemons as mounts. It was a good thing for them to convert to buddhism.
"Since you can keep a secret for a daemon like me, abbess, then Little Ann can be regarded as a proper buddhist disciple. Even if he secretly practises some demonic arts, he still has a good heart. Look, we just killed a Demon King earlier!"
Li Qingshan did his best to defend Little Ann, not because he was afraid of the Divine Nun of the South Sea, but because he felt very embarrassed. After all, the Divine Nun of the South Sea had always treated Little Ann rather well. If she treated Little Ann well, then she treated him well. As a person who could clearly distinguish between kindness and grievances, he did not want to fall out with someone who had helped him.
"Shut up. Don't ever mention the words' buddhist disciple 'again. Our buddhist school is vast, but we don't have a disciple like that!" The Divine Nun of the South Sea pointed at Little Ann and became stricter and stricter, radiating with an invisible pressure that made even Li Qingshan's breathing halt. That was not just power, but the spirit of a successor of laws as well.
"Can you still be reasonable? It's our fault for lying to you, but we also have our own difficulties. Can't killing a few Demon Kings and saving millions of lives make up for it?"
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